How To Make Homemade Bacon

Homemade bacon sliced on a cutting board.

4.78 from 44 votes

Homemade smoked bacon is a beautiful thing, and if you've got a smoker, you will fall in love with homemad bacon! For breakfast, on a sandiwch, or just enjoyed whole, there's nothing quite like homemade bacon!

Prep Time10

Cook Time2 30

Curing time5

Total Time5 2 40

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bacon, homemade bacon, pork belly, smoked bacon, smoked pork belly

Servings: servings

Calories: 408kcal

Author: Chef Jenn

Equipment

Ingredients

3 pounds pork belly skin removed
3/4 cup distilled water or boiled and cooled water
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 grams Prague Powder #1 about 3/4 teaspoon

Instructions

Wash and pat dry (with paper towels) the pork belly.
Score diagonal slits into the top of the pork belly being careful not to cut too deep. You just want to get the brine down past the fat layer on the top.
Combine the dark brown sugar, salt, pepper, and Prague Powder #1 in a zipper-top plastic bag and mix well.
Add the water and swish around to dissolve.
Add the pork belly and massage it around to coat evenly with the brine.
Refrigerate the pork belly for 5-6 days, flipping it and massaging it once a day.
Remove the pork belly from the brine on the last day and rinse it well under tap water. Pat it dry.
Fire up the smoker to 180-F as per the manufacturer's guidelines.
Smoke the pork belly at 180-F for about 30 minutes to give it a good bit of smoke.
Turn the heat to 200-F and smoke the bacon until it reaches 145-F on a digital meat thermometer.
Rest the meat before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

Chef Jenn's Tips

Curing and smoking meats is my favorite food hobby, but they take time! You can't rush a cure. Plan it out and make sure you have the time to make your homemade bacon properly.
Drying before smoking - Should you fridge-dry the meat before smoking? Some say that the pellicle (the tacky surface on the dry meat) attracts more smoke. I've tested this, and my super-taster doesn't detect enough difference between dry and wet meat after smoking. This is purely a personal preference. If you do want to dry the meat, pop it into the fridge for 12-24 hours after rinsing and before smoking.
Salt is essential as a preservative and flavor agent, but you don't have to go overboard! This bacon is not salty. Increase the salt by a tablespoon or 2 if you like your bacon salty.
If you're going to go through the trouble of making homemade bacon, make more than 1 slab! I do a whole 10-12 slab of pork belly at a time. I order from the butcher and cut it into 3-pound hunks.
Don't use pre-sliced pork belly. Costco and other retailers sell 1-2 inch wide slices of pork belly. This will not work with this recipe -they will over cure because the meat is so thin. You need a good 3-pound slab.

Nutrition